What happens to a catalyst after a chemical reaction?
If it is only a catalyst, then by definition it will still be there at the end.
Only a catalyst? Poor catalyst. Catalysts get very little respect. Folks assume that catalysts don' do anything, yet they magically speed up a reaction without taking part in the reaction. That just isn't the case. Most chemical reactions take place in multiple steps. A catalyst can be a reactant in one step and a product in s subsequent step, thereby giving the impression that it did not react. The catalyst speeds up a chemical reaction by providing an alternate reaction pathway which has a lower activation energy. The lower activation energy means that more molecules will have the energy required to react, and the rate will be greater. So the bottom line is that the catalyst will have appeared not to have reacted, and returns to its original state.
